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Ludwig Müntze
Hauptsturmführer Ludwig Müntze is an SD officer in occupied Holland. He was married and had two children, but they were killed in a bombing in Hamburg. This led him to believe that the war was lost for Germany. In 1944 while on a train to his new post he meets a young woman called Ellis de Vries who was unaware to him worked for the Dutch resistance and was a Jew whose family was slaughtered by the SS. The two have a friendly chat on Müntze's stamp collection until they reach the station. Ellis meets him again at his office when she brings him stamps of the dutch queen and the two become good friends. Müntze invites her to a party at the local SD headquarters, and there, Ellis recognizes Obersturmführer Günther Franken, Müntze's brutal deputy, as the SS officer who oversaw the massacre of her refugee party. She obtains a job as a secretary at the SD headquarters while also falling in love with Müntze, who, in contrast to Franken, is not abusive or sadistic. He realizes that her hair is bleached but her hair else ware on her body was blonde, but Müntze was still suspicious. Later a Dutch collaborator Van Gein was assassinated by the Dutch resistance. Franken responds by planning to kill forty hostages, including most of the plotters, but Müntze, who realities the war is lost and has been negotiating with the Resistance, cancels the order. Müntze confronts Ellis and demands that she tell him her story, which she does. On her evidence he confronts Franken with a superior officer, Obergruppenführer Käutner, who orders Franken to open his safe, in a search for the money, gold and jewels stolen from the Jews he had killed. (Murdering Jews was not against SS regulations, but personally stealing their wealth was a capital offense.) However, the safe reveals nothing, and Franken tells Käutner that Müntze has been negotiating with Dutch resistance "terrorists" for a truce. Müntze is condemned to death and imprisoned, along with the members of the resistance cell Franken was already planning to shoot as a reprisal for the killing of Van Gein. Franken later has Ellis arrested after, he discovered his room had been bugged by her and used her as a false trail for the resistance inorder to protect, the real collaborator. Ronnie, having learned of Ellis's role with the Resistance, helps Ellis and Müntze escape. Suspecting Smaal (who supplied the Jews coat by Franken with their money) is the traitor, Müntze and Ellis return to confront him. Smaal denies the accusations. He shows them the titular black book in which he had detailed all his dealings with the Jews he had ostensibly helped. However, both Smaal and his wife are murdered before they can leave the building. Not getting a good look at the killer, Müntze chases him into the street, only to be recognized by the triumphant Dutch and arrested by the Canadians. Müntze is brought before the ranking Canadian forces and finds that they have enlisted the assistance of Käutner in keeping order among the defeated German forces. Käutner convinces a Canadian colonel that under military law the defeated German military retains the right to punish its own soldiers. He produces the death warrant he previously issued against Müntze for his negotiations with Ellis's resistance cell. Although initially opposing the idea of murdering a witness, the Canadian colonel finally agrees. Müntze makes an attempt to strangle Käutner but is stopped by Canadian troops and is dragged away and Müntze is immediately executed by a firing squad of German troops. Awards *War Merit Cross 1st Class with Swords *War Merit Cross 2nd Class *German Sports Badge Notes * He is incorrectly wearing Waffen-SS infantry officer's shoulder boards instead of the toxic green piped Schutzpolizei shoulder boards the SD used since 1943. * He also incorrectly sports his War Merit Cross on the opposite breast pocket of his tunic. Gallery Ludwig Müntze2.png Käutner_and_Muntze.png Käutner_and_Muntze_(2).png Käutner_and_Muntze_(3).png Müntze, Ludwig Müntze, Ludwig Müntze, Ludwig Müntze, Ludwig Müntze, Ludwig Müntze, Ludwig Müntze, Ludwig Müntze, Ludwig Müntze, Ludwig Müntze, Ludwig Müntze, Ludwig Category:Deaths by Shooting